Kumasi Polytechnic Guard Kelvin Sowah Kumah has been named Most Valuable Player of the 2016 Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (UPAC) Basketball Championship Zone D qualifiers which took over the weekend in Kumasi.
The third edition of the UPAC Championship which is headlined by Rexona, had four institutions, host Kumasi Polytechnic, Ghana Technology University College (GTUC-Kumasi), Garden City University College and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), compete for the sole ticket to the last eight of the competition.
However, it was the hosts’ floor general who dazzled fans and connoisseurs alike with his enigmatic but excellent ball handling skills and body fakes that catapulted him to the top of the podium when awards were handed out.
His infectious plays willed an otherwise average Kumasi Polytechnic team to two wins and into the final game of the day against KNUST with a chance to qualify for the quarter finals. However, his splendid display couldn’t prevent the inevitable as a sound team effort, sprinkled with outstanding individual talents in Ekow Amoako and Kwame Akrasi from KNUST, proved too much for him to scale over.
Kumah averaged 13 points, 4.6 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game punctuated by a dominant 12 points, nine rebounds and nine assists game in the opening game against GTUC, in the mini tournament.
Kumasi Polytechnic lost out on qualification following the 31-42 loss to KNUST in the final game. Kumasi Polytechnic earlier in the day, brushed aside GTUC and Garden City; beating them 54-23 and 47-22 respectively.
KNUST will represent Zone D at the main competition to be held on April 14 at the University of Ghana. The 2016 UPAC Championship is supported by MTN, CAL Bank and Fanyogo in partnership with Basketballghana.com, TV3, YFM and Ghana Sports Newspaper.
